Aretha Franklin Makes History with Posthumous Pulitzer Win
April 18, 2019
The Pulitzer board said the award was given to Franklin for “her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades.”
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Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin Makes History with Posthumous Pulitzer Win
April 16, 2019
NEW YORK (AP) — Aretha Franklin is still getting R-E-S-P-E-C-T after death: The Queen of Soul received the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation honor Monday, becoming the first individual woman to earn a special citation prize since the honor was first awarded in 1930. The Pulitzer board said the award was given to Franklin for “her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades.” Franklin died on Aug. 16 at her home in Detroit from pancreatic cancer at age 76. The superstar musician was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when
‘AMAZING GRACE’ Opens in Theaters on April 5
March 29, 2019
The Queen of Soul is immortal and the new documentary “Amazing Grace” which opens April 5, will make you feel like you’ve walked back in time to 1972, the year they filmed the concert.
‘Amazing Grace’ Documentary Premieres in Los Angeles
March 21, 2019
Aretha Franklin fans are cheering following the news that the “Amazing Grace” documentary, which chronicles the story behind her Grammy Award-winning double album, will hit movie theaters across the nation on April 5.
The 34TH Annual Stellar Awards Announces 2019 Performance Lineup Featuring All-Star Tribute to Aretha Franklin
March 12, 2019
(CHICAGO) – Central City Productions today announced a sensational line-up of performers and presenters for The 34th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awardspresented by AT&T, including a posthumous tribute to the undisputed Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. The exhilarating all-star tribute performance by Kelly Price, Regina Belle and Erica Campbell will be followed by a presentation of the Aretha Franklin ICON Award. Gospel prince, Kirk Franklin, will return to host the live show taping at Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena on Friday, March 29, 2019. For the first time since 2005, The Stellar Awards telecast will premiere on BET on Friday, April 19 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m.
Smokey Robinson Remembers Aretha Franklin at Tribute Concert
March 5, 2019
LOS ANGELES (AP) — For Smokey Robinson, the late Aretha Franklin was more than just the Queen of Soul. Robinson told a packed venue that Franklin was his longtime neighbor in Detroit, calling the acclaimed singer his “little sister” whom he still misses at the “Aretha! A Grammy Celebration for The Queen of Soul.” He along with some of music’s well-respected artists such as Alicia Keys, Celine Dion and Patti LaBelle took the stage to help bring Franklin’s favorite songs back to life during the Jan. 13 taped tribute concert in Los Angeles. The tribute will air March 10 on
Black History Month News: Rev. Dr. Alexander Hamilton
February 7, 2019
In celebration of Black History Month, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas presented a scroll to the Reverend Dr. Alexander Hamilton, who arranged the late Aretha Franklin’s Grammy-Award winning gospel album Amazing Grace, among many other stellar musical achievements.
Forest Lawn Memorial Parks presents ‘An Evening of Gospel, Jazz, and Blues’
January 25, 2019
A FREE night of music, dance, poetry, and black culture to celebrate Black History Month:
An Intimate Conversation With Grammy-Award Winner Thelma Houston
January 17, 2019
She was a little girl born and raised in Mississippi, who eventually went on to become a Grammy Award-winning musician. Thelma Houston, best known for her number one international hit “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” will perform at the Clive Davis Theater on Jan. 17 in Downtown Los Angeles.
27th Annual Pan-African Film and Arts Festival To Screen Aretha Franklin’s Amazing Grace Concert
January 17, 2019
The Pan African Film & Arts Festival announced that it will celebrate its 27th Annual Opening Night with a screening of Aretha Franklin’s cherished Amazing Grace concert documentary at the Directors Guild of America. The festival, which presents an impressive slate of over 170 new Black films from the US and around the world and exhibits more than 100 fine artists and unique craftspeople, starts on Thursday, February 7 through Monday, February 18 at the Cinemark Rave 15 Theatres (3650 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd) and the adjacent Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Los Angeles, California. Aretha Franklin’s spine-tingling and uplifting Amazing Grace, produced by Alan Elliott, was originally directed by Sydney Pollack in 1972 at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California. The film, a rare gem in the crown of the late musical genius, has not been seen before now due to technical and rights issues.
Tyler Perry Set to Host “Aretha! A GRAMMY Celebration For The Queen Of Soul”
December 28, 2018
NEW YORK (AP) — The Queen of Soul will get a royal tribute from Alicia Keys, Patti LaBelle, Kelly Clarkson and more next month. The Recording Academy and music mogul Clive Davis will put on the special concert — “Aretha! A GRAMMY Celebration For The Queen Of Soul” — on Jan. 13 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The event will broadcast later in 2019 on CBS. Yolanda Adams, Shirley Caesar, Celine Dion, John Legend, SZA and Janelle Monae will also perform some of Franklin’s biggest hits at the concert. Filmmaker and actor Tyler Perry will host the event.
Notable Deaths of 2018
December 27, 2018
This year, we said goodbye to amazing men and women who shaped the world with their love, talents and time.